Waiting On You
by CleopatraLove
Summary: The Cullen's are new to town they are dark and mysterious and everyone at Fork's high is intrigued. What happens when Bella becomes infatuated with Edward but he wants nothing to do with her? How will she react when she learns his secret? Dark/AH/ExB


**So this is my very first Twilight FanFic and honestly I'm a little nervous. This first chapter doesn't reveal anything as it's in Bella's point of view, but stick with me and all will be revealed in time.**

**Please, please, please review and let me know what you think I really appreciate you all reading my work :)**

**I want to thank my lovely beta TotallyGaga for helping me out and telling me my idea isn't completely nuts.**

**Disclaimer: However much I wish I owned Twilight and all its characters, I have to say I don't. It all came from Stephanie Meyers' wonderful head.**

It was almost spring in Forks, but the icy air still lingered. I, Isabella Swan, sat comfortably in a fraying old couch chair in the confines of a small coffee shop. I was scribbling ferociously on a piece of paper covered in smudges from previous spelling errors, my mug of hot chocolate sat loyally beside me as I muttered profanities at my homework.

I'm seventeen years old and I live in the tiny, miserable, wet town of Forks Washington with my dad, Charlie.

My mom, Renée, lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband Phil- a minor league player. I had decided to live with my dad instead of my mom when I heard of the divorce. I love them both equally but I knew mom would be travelling a lot with Phil and I didn't want her tied down with me. Besides, Forks is my home.

Taking a sip of my hot chocolate I finished the last words of my homework and slammed my book shut. That would have to do. I scanned the small shop and recognized every face. Had I mentioned it was a small town?

If I looked outside and across the street I would see Mrs Bennett's book store right next door to the dry cleaners.

I suppressed a sigh as I stretched my legs out from under me and made my way to the door where I could clearly see my old and rusty red Chevy.

I drove home in an instant, easily parking the truck in its usual spot once I was there.

Home was nice. The house looked as old as it was - which was like sixty years or something – but it was sturdy and warm. And in Forks weather, that's all that really mattered.

The moment I walked inside I was enveloped with the smell of chilli and instantly knew Charlie was cooking. While he may be a great father, he seriously lacked actual cooking skills. So I took it upon myself to be the cook, it wasn't hard - dad wasn't fussy.

"Dad? What are you doing?" I called as I threw my parka on the rack beside the door. I heard scuffling followed by the sound of something falling to the floor.

"Um, I'm not sure!" he called back, but by this time I was in the kitchen.

I sighed as I saw him trying to mop up some kind of sauce that had been in the pot as it fell to the ground.

"What are you making?" I asked, wrinkling my nose at the smell. He pointed to a piece of paper that sat dangerously close the open flame on the stove, "Curry? ...Alright I think you've done enough, dad, let me help out"

Turning everything off I looked over what he had made... or attempted to. Nothing was edible. Most of the curry was burnt and the rest lay on the floor or along the cupboards.

Eventually, after much cleaning, I had managed to make cheese toasties for the both of us.

We sat around our tiny table and ate dinner. It wasn't the best but no one complained. Charlie and I sat silently for awhile as we ate. Usually small talk was enough for us.

"Got all your homework done Bells?"

"Yeah, finished it this afternoon at the coffee shop," I said, he merely nodded. Then silence fell again. Neither of us minded.

I finished up and excused myself up to my room where I spent the rest of my night checking emails and finishing the last book in my Jane Austen series.

I woke up the next morning to an empty house, as usual. Dad had gone off to the station, he was usually up and out by five. Sliding a piece of toast in the toaster I began my normal Monday morning ritual.

Weather was as expected when I got to school- drizzling. I tried to remain inconspicuous as turned off the roar of my truck's engine. When I had first got it people always looked when I got to school, nowadays they had grown used to the blaring sound of my truck as I pulled into my normal parking spot.

As soon as I jumped out of the cab, Angela was by my side. Angela and I had been friends since kindergarten. We were alike in many ways; we kept our secrets to ourselves and always enjoyed a good read over getting drunk or high like other teenagers. We walked silently into class finding no need to talk each other's ears off about our weekend.

When English rolled around I prepared myself for seeing Jessica Stanley. There was a party on the weekend and I was sure she was going to tell me every single detail, from the colour of the dress she wore to the way she danced with the hottest guy there like she always did.

Somehow I made it to lunch, followed by Jess who was still blabbering on about irrelevant things. Every lunch I sit with my normal group of friends; Mike, Lauren, Jess, Angela, Eric, Tyler and Ben-even though I can only stand half of them. I sat down next to Angela and she gave me a small sympathetic smile, before her eyes lit up wildly.

Just as she was going to open her mouth Lauren cut in, "We have new students!" she shrieked, pointing her long well manicured finger towards the back of the cafeteria. I had no idea why she was acting so strangely, could it be because we haven't had a new student for a good two years?

Turning my head in the direction she was pointing I quickly understood why she was so excited, there were _five. _They all sat awkwardly aware of the new found attention they were getting. Usually -on the odd occasion we got new students- people would surround them, asking them questions like where they came from.

"Who are they?" I breathed not taking my eyes from them.

Angela's voice spoke quietly next to my ear, "They're the Cullen's. They're all adopted by the new doctor at the hospital and his wife, they're all new to town, mom said they moved from New York" she whispered, Angela's mom was a nurse at the hospital. Which, it seems is the best place to be to find out all the latest gossip.

I turned my attention back to the Cullen's like the rest of the school were. Looking at each one individually I could tell they weren't all related.

Out of the two girls, one looked pixie like. She was small, no more than five feet, with cropped black hair and the only one smiling. The other girl was tall with long blonde hair; her beauty was obvious even if she was frowning quite contently. She resembled one of the Barbie dolls I used to play with from my younger years.

Out of the boys one stood out from the rest. He was huge, by far the biggest person I've ever seen. He looked to have muscle on muscle, but when you looked at his face he looked harmless- unlike his brother next to him. He had blonde hair and looked strikingly similar to the Barbie sitting across the table from him. He was tense and held a look so menacing it sent chills down my spine. The pixie girl was stroking his arm while staring blatantly at the last brother, the one who appealed to me the most. His hair was bronze, his body lanky. He looked annoyed, his full lips sat in a straight line as he stared back at his sister as if they were sharing a silent conversation.

He was godly, I couldn't keep my eyes away.

"I'd totally do that blonde chick" I heard Mike say, drawing my attention away from the Cullen's and back to reality.

Once lunch was over Mike and I walked to biology. We sat together up the back, well he sat with me. Mike had some kind of fascination with me ever since freshman year when I grew boobs over the summer.

As soon as we sat down I noticed a tall, unusual figure saunter into the room. A few seats down the lanky Cullen was taking a seat, he looked ever better close up and I wasn't the only one who noticed; every girl in the room instantly sat up straight and began fluttering their eyelashes. He didn't seem to notice any of them as he took out his pens and paper.

Mr Banner was next to walk in looking ruffled and dazed as if he had just woken up_._ Probably wouldn't surprise me if he had.

The whole lesson I fought with myself to not look at the bronze hair that seemed to be calling to my attention from a few seats down. It was so luscious and thick; I just wanted to run my hands through it.

Yes, I embarrassingly admit I sat there imaging it.

The lesson seemed to go by painfully slow. Mike tapped his goddamn pencil in time with the clock the whole time causing me to be insanely irritated with him by the time we were leaving the room.

The new guy was gone before I even had time to look up. They really were different, who would seriously rush to their next class?

"So I was thinking..." Mike said hovering a little too close behind me.

"Uh-oh"

"Funny. No seriously, I was thinking we should catch a movie sometime this week or something. Chill after school, you know?"

"Uh, I don't know about that Mike," by that time he should've know my answer. It's not like I hadn't turned him down before.

"Fuck Bella. Stop being so stuck up for once. All I'm asking is to hang as buddies, I don't see the problem." He was beside me now, trying to grab my hand as we walked.

"You're the problem. Last time we 'hung as buddies' alone, you stuck your tongue down my throat and said you were just 'messing around'," I explained, using air quotes to explain his idiocy.

"Well I was," he said, but I glared, "Aw come on! That was a year ago."

"And nothing's changed," I stated cutting him off as I turned into gym. I heard him follow in behind but I raced to the girls locker room before I could listen to anymore.

It was the end of the day and I looked forward to the inviting warmth my house had.

I pulled up the hood of my jacket as I walked to my truck, trying to remember if I needed to stop by the store on the way home or not. My mind was elsewhere and I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going, before I knew it I had ran into a tall dark figure.

I stumbled back almost slipping over as I tried to regain my grip on the slippery pavement. Just as I was going to hit the ground I found my footing and caught myself. Looking up I saw a pair of dark brown eyes staring down at me.

It was the big Cullen. He didn't look angry that I ran into him, just displeased.

"Sorry," I said.

Barbie Cullen was with him and the moment I looked up she was glaring at me.

What was her problem? Clearly it was an accident.

Before I could question her they both walked off towards the car park. I noticed the big guy slip his arm around her shoulders in a way that looked more intimate than a friendly gesture.

Looking around I realised nobody had seen my clumsy moment, and if they had they ignored it. People were used to me being totally uncoordinated; I had been my whole life.

I managed to get to my truck without embarrassing myself further. The familiar rumble of my engine helped ease the redness in my cheeks. Wasting no more time, I backed out and headed straight home.

Charlie wasn't in when I got home, so I spent the afternoon alternating between cleaning, reading and homework.

Just as I was deciding what to cook for dinner there was a knock at the door.

"Billy! Jacob! Come on in," I smiled making room for Billy's wheelchair.

The Blacks have been family friends of ours since before I was born. Jacob and I grew up together; he was my best friend but so much more. Billy and dad were like brothers in so many ways. Every Saturday and Sunday morning they would go fishing, every Friday evening we'd head over to Billy's to watch the TV and have dinner.

"Lousy weather," Billy commented, rolling himself in and shaking off his jacket.

"It's always lousy weather."

He smiled and for a moment I could see the young man he once was.

"So what brings you guys over here?" We were retreating into the living room where Jacob threw himself down on the couch.

"I brought your dads favourite," Billy said holding up a brown paper bag.

"What timing! I was just organising what to have for dinner, thanks Billy," I took the homemade fish fry and placed it in the kitchen.

"Did you guys want to stay?" I asked once I was back in the room.

"No, no. We can't stay long were having dinner over at the Clearwaters," Billy said, checking his watch.

"Ok, another time then. How are things with the Clearwaters anyway?" We spoke for several more minutes until Billy and Jacob left.

Charlie was home only moments after they had gone. He was pleased to see that they had dropped off his favourite, but even more pleased to eat it. Sitting at the table we sank into easy conversation, both asking each other how are days were.

"My day was interesting, there are some new kids at school, five of them," I said.

"I heard there was a new family in Forks, but five kids?" Charlie whistled, clearly as surprised as I was.

"Yeah, they're all pretty awkward- like being new and all. No one has even tried to talk to them."

"Do you think maybe you should?" he asked, putting another mouthful of food into his mouth.

"Talk to them? I don't know. I mean one of them glared at me today and the rest... well, they all looked pretty unnerving," I replied, remembering the icy glare I received today. He left it at that.

After dinner I washed the dishes and sat with Charlie to watch the TV. He settled into one of his regular shows while I pretended to enjoy myself. That's how it was most nights, but I was perfectly content.

The rest of the week passed by swiftly, some of the Cullen's had started interacting with other students. The small one had smiled at me in the hall. I hadn't had the chance to smile back so I spent the rest of that day feeling rude.

I silently thanked God when the weekend came. Friday night was spent in the living room of the Black house. After dinner Jacob and I snuck off to his garage where he showed me his latest work of art.

It was a 1986 red Volkswagen Rabbit that he had fixed from scratch. It wasn't much to look at -and sitting in it felt awfully unsafe- but I encouraged Jake, telling him it had to be his best rebuild yet.

"Aw shucks Bells," he blushed, "I know it's not much but I'm pretty proud of myself."

"I'm proud of you too. How long before you can drive this baby?"

"Well, it's perfectly fine to drive now, but I want to replace the seats and clean up a few things before I can call it finished," he said, stroking the rusted roof top.

"We should go for a spin," I said, allowing a devilish grin to spread across my face. Jake soon mimicked it.

That's another thing you'll come to learn about me- I'm completely reckless. I think that's what Jake liked most about me, the fact I would do all the boyish rough things with him. I wasn't like other girls.

"What about our dads?"

"Exactly, what about them?" I laughed running to open the garage door up completely.

"We'll have to push it out until we are far enough away, if they hear the engine start we'll both be grounded," Jacob explained, jumping in the front seat.

Once we had rolled it far enough away from the house Jake instructed me to jump in. The interior smelled of tobacco and gasoline, just like Jake's garage. A smell I had grown used to over the years.

"Let's start this baby up!" Jake cheered. It was obvious he was excited. In an instant he had turned the key and the Rabbit called to life.

The whole ride Jake had been smiling, clearly more than happy with his mechanical skills. The radio was scratchy and refused to play any of the stations we wanted to listen to. So we spent the whole time –which wasn't very long- talking.

We snuck the Rabbit in the same we had taken it out. The both of us were relieved when we walked back inside and saw that Charlie and Billy hadn't moved an inch, they didn't even looked up when we walked in.

An hour later and I was in the shower getting ready for bed.

My shower was nice but I spent the most of it thinking over what to do this weekend. Jake was busy with his friends at the Reservation, Angela was going to Port Angeles with her family and Tyler, Eric and Ben were all busy. There was no way I was calling Mike to do something, or Lauren. I guess that leaves Jess- actually I'd rather just hang out by myself.

Turning off the water I jumped out and pulled on my pyjamas.

"Night dad!" I called down the stairs. I was answered by a light snore; he was asleep. Sighing I descended the stairs to find him sitting back on his reclining chair completely asleep.

Turning the TV off I lightly nudged his knee. He stirred but didn't wake.

"Dad c'mon, you've fallen asleep," I said nudging him more firmly. He woke to this, looking a little disoriented; he sat up straight, "I'm going to bed, you should have a shower and do the same."

"Oh, alright thanks Bells," he replied, sleepily rubbing his face.

I patted his shoulder before going back up the stairs into my room.

I turned on the cd player beside my bed to play softly as a fell asleep. My bed was cold at first; I had made the mistake of leaving my window open when we went out. Half an hour later the magic of Claude Debussy had dragged me into a deep slumber.

I dreamt of snow, endless white snow.

My weekend was short; I had spent the most of it with Jake in his garage. Billy and dad had gone fishing with Harry Clearwater so we had the place to ourselves. I helped him polish up the Rabbit in an attempt to make it look younger than it actually was.

When I wasn't with him I was either cleaning or doing homework. Jess had called Saturday night asking whether or not I wanted to go shopping with her and Lauren on Sunday. I turned down her offer saying shopping really wasn't my thing.

Before I knew it, it was Monday morning again and I was preparing for school.

"Here we go again," I whispered as I jumped out of the cab of my truck and was greeted by Angela.

"How was your weekend?" she asked tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear.

"It was fine, how was yours?"

"Great, Eric and I kind of hung out...at the movies," there was a faint blush on her pale cheeks and I knew instantly that they did more than 'hang out'.

"Hung out, hey?" I winked, nudging my shoulder against hers. She ducked her head from me and I laughed a little.

"Oh! That reminds me, I found out more info on those Cullen kids." We were in school now, leaning against our lockers as a few students passed us by.

"What like?" for some reason my voice had dropped low, I wasn't surprised when Ang's had too.

"Well, the two blonde ones are actually brother and sister. Rosalie and Jasper Hale, I think their names are. The others go by the Doctors' last name."

So it was Rosalie who had taken an instant dislike to me.

"But wait there's more", she continued leaning closer, "apparently they're all together, like involved with each other together."

My eyebrows shot up, but wait, wasn't there five of them?

Apparently I had said that question out loud, Ang nodded.

"Yeah, you know that one with the kind of bronze-colored messy hair? Well he's the only single one."

"What's his name?" I asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Edward."

_Edward._


End file.
